The Pilgrimage to Omaha
Compound Wealth was lucky to have joined the annual pilgrimage to Omaha, Nebraska in the US for the Berkshire Hathaway 2024 Shareholders Meeting earlier this month. We were also lucky to get a private tour of the New York Stock Exchange and watch the closing bell ring in!
As many CW clients will know Berkshire Hathaway is a US holding company run by legendary investor, Warren Buffett, that owns a diverse range of private businesses and significant interests in public companies such as Apple.
We all queued up early in the morning and rushed to get seats as soon as the doors opened at 7:00am. There were thousands of people who had travelled from all over the US and the rest of the world. Near our seats where people from Brazil, Australia, all over the US and a few New Zealanders too. Everybody had travelled to hear “the Oracle of Omaha”.
The meeting started with a moving video tribute to Charlie Munger, Warren’s business partner for over 50 years who died last year. Warren then proceeded to take questions for well over three hours in the morning session without tiring in the slightest.
Warren’s key words of wisdom for the Compound Wealth team were:
Warren’s stated aim for Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) is to increase operating earnings and reduce the share count each year.
The people who don’t check the BRK share price often have done better than those that check it each day. This shows the long term benefit of compounding your wealth and not trading in and out of something.
Warren acknowledged they had sold some Apple shares over the last quarter but that he still thinks it will be Berkshire’s largest public shareholding by year end.
Berkshire’s investments will primarily be in US because Warren thinks he won’t make mistakes in US and he can’t bear to lose shareholders’ money.
When asked if he had one more day with Charlie what would he do, Warren said he had the most fun working with Charlie on things that failed - “digging yourself out of a fox hole was more fun with Charlie because you had to work harder”.
Charlie was broad in his focus, Warren is more narrow and said he was not interested in some things. This is why they were so successful together.
On succession, Warren replied a Berkshire CEO can’t retire at 65.
The right CEO can’t make a bad business great - you need to buy the right business.
Warren is focused on making money on everything he does. The immense hall which showcased all of Berkshire’s investments and sold all the “merch” was busy the whole weekend long.
At Berkshire, we only swing at the pitches we want to.
It was an amazing day and one we would highly recommend if you ever get the opportunity to go to.